High School: Love On: Episode 1

What an intriguing little show. High School: Love On feels like a curious experiment for KBS, not just with its quirky genre bent but also format. Truth be told, I was expecting this show to be either a mess or to fall by the wayside entirely because for months, KBS kept changing its mind about where to schedule it—there was talk of it being a regular prime-time show, then a weekend daytime show, and finally settling on its current slot of Friday nights, one episode a week, for twenty episodes.

It’s odd, and I think the timeslot and marketing were handled poorly enough to consign the show to an underwatched run. And it looks like it may end up the little show that got ignored, though I do hope it doesn’t because I think it deserves a better fate. The drama is interesting and atmospheric and a little weird, in a good way. I went into it with no idea of what to expect, and came away quite pleasantly surprised. On top of a quirky supernatural premise, it has endearing characters and a seriously beautiful cinematography with a deft directorial touch that lingers on lovely little moments.

(I’m not planning to continue recapping this show because of the time conundrum, but I wanted to at least bring the show to your attention with the first episode recap. Because it’s worth a look!)

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EPISODE 1: Fate — Irresistible and Out of the Blue!

We open in the spring of 2016, at a university campus. A student—our hero—bumps into a girl in front of a building, and she drops her books at his feet. He returns most of them, but before he can hand her the last one, she’s off without a word.

Her face is kept purposely hidden from us—and from him—and there’s something rather urgent in the way he runs after her, trying to catch up. But he loses her around the bend.

He looks down at the book, titled A Hand to You (on the cover, a note has been handwritten in pen, “To Dummy”). He heaves a heavy sigh of disappointment.

A sudden downpour sends him running for cover, which is where a girl steps up next to him, her face hidden under an umbrella. He recognizes the gold key necklace she’s wearing and his fingers instinctively touch the silver necklace around his neck, in the shape of a lock.

“You…” he starts to say in surprise. But the girl with the hidden face walks off again.

He thinks, “In the time in my life when you were my every moment, we loved. And in this moment now, I hope that it’s you.”

Then we jump backward two years, to the spring of 2014.

We resume with our hero, named SHIN WOO-HYUN (played by Infinite member Nam Woo-hyun), an 18-year-old in his second year of high school. As he rides his scooter carrying a grocery delivery, another teenager steps directly into his path. With mere seconds to react, Woo-hyun skids madly, trying to stop.

Suddenly all motion sloooooows to crawl, then halts entirely. Time freezes for everyone—except for one girl perched on the roof of a building, who watches curiously. In a flash, she materializes by the boy about to be hit, tugs him back a few feet, then poofs out of the way. She doesn’t have a name yet but she’s the one described as an “angel” (played by Kim Sae-ron).

Time resumes and Woo-hyun tumbles off his scooter, a little bruised but not seriously harmed. The other guy barely even acknowledges his existence, much less says thank you. He is HWANG SUNG-YEOL (played by Infinite’s Lee Sung-yeol), a cold and indifferent sort, the diametric opposite of good-natured, well-liked Woo-hyun.

On his way to school in the morning, Woo-hyun comes across a man who collapses on the sidewalk and jumps into action, performing CPR. While a small crowd gathers around him, our angel materializes at the scene, her ever-present big book firmly in hand, and addresses the collapsed man: “Come out now.”

The man’s soul pops out of his body, and the angel confirms in her book that he’s the one slated to die today. The man gapes in confusion and wonders who she is, and she explains for us that she’s a guide for humans—angel is what she gets called in Korean, but in the West we’d generally say reaper.

Our reaper-angel leads away the man’s soul, unseen to the human world. So when Woo-hyun realizes he’s late and darts off at a run, he zooms right through her. The angel feels the force slam into her and thinks, “After meeting that human, very strange things began to happen.”

Woo-hyun’s CPR was caught on video and earns him admiration from girls at school, though he doesn’t get puffed up on the flattery. (He’s the type who’s so cool that he doesn’t care whether people think he’s cool, which frankly makes him cooler.)

Class gets interrupted by the sudden arrival of a haughty mother, who asks for Woo-hyun and then slaps him full in the face. Her daughter Jin-young is mortified as her mother accuses Woo-hyun of toying with her daughter’s emotions and luring her away from her studies; Jin-young has been cutting academy classes to follow him around, and Mom is not having her future ruined because of a boy.

Jin-young runs off in humiliation, but Woo-hyun is remarkably collected and doesn’t give an inch even as Mom insults his humble roots. Mom storms out, and the teacher pulls Woo-hyun out of class for a talk. On the way, however, Woo-hyun notices something upstairs and pauses.

Our angel lounges in an electronics store, swooning over the drama playing on the wall (it’s Wonderful Season, in a bit of KBS cross-promotion), invisible to the human shoppers. A reaper sunbae materializes in the store next to her and asks why she likes dramas so much, when they all tell the same story over and over.

But our angel says that watching dramas gives her an idea of what human emotions feel like: “What pain is, what joy is, what it feels like to love, why people love despite knowing they’ll separate, or why they live despite knowing they’ll die.”

Her reaper sunbae tells her flatly to stop being so interested in human life and just do her work. She waves him off, engrossed in Lee Seo-jin and Kim Hee-sun’s big romantic moment, and is greatly chagrined when she gets called away by her big book o’ death. It signals her to her next death call, and the name listed is Jin-young, the high school student.

Jin-young stands at the edge of the school’s rooftop, which is where Woo-hyun finds her contemplating the jump. To her surprise, he jumps on the ledge and suggests that they jump together; it’s an effective use of reverse psychology, since we can see that she isn’t quite ready to do it.

Then out of nowhere, the sky goes dark and lightning flashes. The angel looks at her book, which has started going haywire—now instead of the page featuring Jin-young’s death, her name flickers back and forth with Woo-hyun’s. The angel shakes the malfunctioning book and loses her grasp on it, sending it sailing down toward the ground.

She reappears in a flash on a car’s hood to catch the book. Up on the roof, Woo-hyun seizes the moment to shove Jin-young toward safety—but in the process loses his own balance.

Woo-hyun falls over the ledge and goes hurtling toward the ground, heading straight for the angel. Instinctively she reacts and throws up a protective barrier, which holds Woo-hyun’s body up in the air, hovering above her body.

Then that force field blazes out, and the death book disappears.

Both Woo-hyun and the angel are knocked out cold and end up in the hospital. He’s amazed to find himself uninjured, while she’s completely confused when he starts talking to her—how can he see her? Then she realizes that her body actually has corporeal form now and screams as she feels her face and arms.

But then she’s hit with an even more alarming thought: her book. Where did it go? She frantically looks around for her “Black Notebook” and slumps when she realizes it’s gone.

Woo-hyun asks for the angel’s name and address, which she can’t provide. She does point up at the sky and tell him that’s where she came from, but predictably, he doesn’t believe her, instead assuming that the accident addled her. It’s not a completely strange assumption given the angel’s odd behavior, like how she screams to feel her heart beating, and presses her ear to his chest to see if his does too. “Have I really become a human?” she asks him.

The angel brightens to see her sunbae nearby, ushering away the soul of a dead man, and fills him in on her situation. To Woo-hyun’s confused human eyes, it looks like she’s conversing with thin air, furthering his assumption that she’s suffering from the accident. She asks her sunbae to find a way for her to return to normal and says, indicating Woo-hyun, “In any case, I think the answer lies with this guy.”

Woo-hyun takes her to the police station to sort out her situation. Pressed for a name, the angel casts looks around the room and spots some magazines lying around, which provide her with a mishmash of a name: Bi Yi-seul. But since Bi Yi-seul doesn’t sound like a real name, the officer decides that the only way it makes sense is if she means Lee Seul-bi instead, and the angel just agrees like that’s totally what she meant. It’s so cute.

Woo-hyun is relieved that the amnesia girl is getting back her memory and takes that as his cue to leave. Except when he tries to go, “Seul-bi” grabs his arm and gives him her biggest sad-puppy eyes. Don’t leave me!

Before he can make his exit, in storms Bitchy Mom with the schoolteacher in tow, announcing that she’s here to file suit against Woo-hyun for bullying and driving her daughter to attempted suicide. Good lord, this woman is a piece of work. She’s even strong-armed the teacher into collecting supposed records of Woo-hyun’s violence at school, likely faked given the way the teacher can’t meet Woo-hyun’s eye.

It’s Seul-bi who pipes up in indignation, telling the “Bad Ajumma” that Woo-hyun actually saved her daughter and that she was a witness. One hilarious side effect of her reaper past is that Seul-bi talks to everybody in banmal, and the effect is duly disconcerting to the humans.

Woo-hyun doesn’t want the extra headache, though, and deposits Seul-bi outside with instructions to stay out of this. She’s about to work herself into an indignant monologue when an idea strikes her.

On the upside, the lead officer seems to understand what’s going on and is on Woo-hyun’s side, indicating that he believes the teacher submitted a false report. On the downside, as a solution to the potential lawsuit, now Woo-hyun will have to be transferred to a new school.

Bad Ajumma flips out when she gets to her expensive car and finds it completely defaced with things like “Liar!” “You’ll be in trouble!” and “You’re ugly.” Hahaha. It’s so childish, but so fitting for the pint-sized angel.

With nowhere else to take her, Woo-hyun brings a paint-smeared Seul-bi to grandma’s ddukkobkki restaurant, where she has to study how someone eats before trying it out herself. Her immediate reaction is disgust at the spiciness, and when asked how old she is, she muses, “I’ve never bothered counting.” Grandma tells her to stay as long as she needs to, calling her Woo-hyun’s rescuer.

Woo-hyun’s father sends him a birthday present from the States, so I guess he’s not an orphan. But it seems like his relationship with his parents is strained; his annual birthday shoes don’t ever fit him and there’s an uncomfortable silence when Seul-bi asks about his mother. He just gives the shoes to Seul-bi, who accepts cheerfully.

When he gets up to go to bed, Seul-bi follows with her pillow, intending to sleep with him because “that’s how it happens in the dramas.” He calls it a dangerous line of thinking and asks what happens in the next scene, and Seul-bi thinks for a moment: “It gets dark.” Haha.

As Woo-hyun settles in to sleep, we see that he wears the gold key necklace from the opening scene, which had been worn by the mysterious girl. Perhaps it has to do with his mother, as he says aloud, “I wonder where Mom is living.”

Seul-bi ventures down to the restaurant and samples the drinks in the case. (Her reactions are adorable.) So she’s there to see Woo-hyun stepping outside to meet with Jin-young, who has called him out to apologize for her mother’s actions. He suggests they not see each other again to avoid further trouble, but lovesick Jin-young wells up with tears and promises to make things right. She grabs him in a back-hug and proposes that if he dates her, she’ll make sure to stop her mother no matter what. The intentions are good, but why does it feel so much like extortion?

But the scene twists in a comedic direction when Woo-hyun spots Seul-bi lurking nearby. She pretends she wasn’t eavesdropping and starts doing some random exercises, so Woo-hyun watches her curiously, only paying half-attention to Jin-young’s dramatic appeal. Then he motions Seul-bi closer and uses her as his excuse to extricate himself from this Jin-young drama, calling her his girlfriend.

They walk off together (aw, Seul-bi’s wearing the shoes he gave her), and when he starts to explain about the girlfriend lie, she tells him it’s okay, she’s seen this in lots of dramas before. I love that our little death angel is a drama addict.

Seul-bi asks if transferring schools is bad thing, and guesses from his reaction that it is. He says that it’s not bad, it’s just that it takes away your memories, “and there are some memories I’d like to erase.”

Seul-bi sighs that it’s all very confusing and humans are too complicated. He remarks, “You talk like you’re not a human.” Then when they pause to look up that the sky, Seul-bi wonders when she’ll get to go back—if she’ll get to go back. She waves her hands at the sky and yells, “Look, I’m over here!” Woo-hyun chimes in, saying, “I’m here too!”

The reaper sunbae drops by to tell Seul-bi that she’ll have to remain human until he can find a solution. It’s a scary thought to consider that she might get stuck in her human life and eventually die, and she pleads with him to find a way.

Reaper Sunbae is dispassionate and no-nonsense, and has none of Seul-bi’s whimsy. So when she practices picking up beans with chopsticks and says that human food is pretty good, he moves the beans with his supernatural powers and reminds her sternly that she’s not human. That deflates her spirits a bit and she apologizes to him, though she isn’t quite sure what she’s apologizing for.

When Reaper Sunbae gets up to leave, Woo-hyun walks into the room and she blurts, “You have to avoid that guy!” She means that the reaper should avoid Woo-hyun (since she had that run-in with him), but Woo-hyun looks around in confusion. He wonders if she’s still ill from the accident, and she asks what it means to be ill.

Woo-hyun gets an order and heads out to make the delivery. It turns out to be the home of Sung-yeol, our surly teenager, who also happens to be the son of the friendly police officer. His dislike for his stepmother is blatant and unapologetic, and he ignores her attempts to be motherly (hence the food order rather than eating her dinner). For what it’s worth Stepmom seems a little snippy herself, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt for trying, whereas Sung-yeol just glares and calls her phony.

Ah, well it’s not for no reason, because he calls out Stepmom for being a homewrecker and snaps that she has no place teaching him about proper behavior. Sung-yeol is convinced that his parents would never have split up if not for her, but judging from her reaction I’m guessing Sung-yeol probably doesn’t have the full story.

Jin-young’s Bitchy Mom isn’t through meddling, and applies more pressure to force Woo-hyun to transfer schools. She presents Grandma with a bill for an enormous sum in car repairs and threatens to get Woo-hyun expelled and Seul-bi tossed in jail.

Woo-hyun fumes powerlessly, but today it’s Grandma who stands up to Bitchy Mom and thunders that she’ll pay the damn money so Woo-hyun can stay at his school, threatening to expel Bitchy Mom from her life if she messes with them any more. Aw yeah, go Grandma!

Woo-hyun pulls Seul-bi aside angrily to confirm whether she vandalized the car. She admits it, saying that she wanted to help him, but he retorts that she’s in no position to be helping anyone. “I don’t know you anymore,” he says. “Get lost.”

He tries to storm off, but she calls him back pleadingly, saying that he’s the one person in the world that she knows. He says that nothing’s gone right since he met her and orders her not to follow, then runs off angrily.

Seul-bi walks along aimlessly, and we see Reaper Sunbae walking along a parallel strip of sidewalk, watching from a distance. Aw, is he in love with her? There’s certainly a repressed emotion of some sort emanating from him, that’s for sure. But his Black Notebook signals a job for him and he has to go off to attend to another death.

Seul-bi wanders into a bookstore and must get an idea, because she starts looking through bookshelves with some urgency. She doesn’t find what she’s looking for and is careless with the books, dropping them on the ground as she discards them, which attracts the notice of another browser—Sung-yeol.

Woo-hyun sees Seul-bi’s tattered dress at home (the one she was originally wearing as reaper) and tosses it into the trash. He fumes for a while in his room, then goes out for a broody motorcycle ride through the city.

Seul-bi’s hunt for her Black Notebook takes her out to the trash pile, and she bemoans herself for not listening to Reaper Sunbae’s advice not to trust humans. As she’s searching, she finds a discarded stuffed animal and hugs it sympathetically, since they’re in the same boat.

It starts to rain, and she ducks for cover outside a convenience store. Inside the window, she sees a boy eating a bowl of ramyun and looks at it hungrily. The boy—Sung-yeol again—notices her interest but ignores it, and she sends increasingly pathetic looks his way. When he leaves, she hunches down dejectedly and says, “So this is what betrayal feels like.”

She means Woo-hyun, since she saved his life and he abandoned her, and she blurts “Jerk!” just as Sung-yeol leaves the store. She clarifies that she isn’t talking about him, but totally isn’t above sidling close and taking cover under his umbrella, to his puzzlement.

He moves the umbrella to one side, then the other, watching as Seul-bi dances underneath to stay under its shelter. This is adorable.

Finally he pulls her away and walks off, and she bellows, “You’re just like Shin Woo-hyun!”

At that, he returns and silently shoves the umbrella at her, then walks away. Immediately happy again, she thanks him and cancels her comparison. Under the cover of the umbrella, Seul-bi looks up in wonder and experiences rain.

Seul-bi walks on, not knowing where to go. “Will I just live like this and die?” she worries. She wonders how she might be able to return to her old life, and then looks out at the passing cars with a serious look on her face. “I want to go back,” she says. Oh no, you’re not thinking what I’m thinking you’re thinking, are you?

She decides, “I will go back” and steps into the street, in the path of an oncoming truck. It honks at her and flashes its lights in warning, but she stands there firmly, holding back her mounting fear.

COMMENTS

Plot-wise, High School: Love On isn’t wholly new—it borrows bits from lots of other stories and feels like a mix of Dead Like Me (quirky reapers) and My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho (heroine just wants to be human) and The Little Mermaid (heroine stranded outside her world). But I like the way it works these elements together, and the actual story is much more fresh (in my opinion) as a stranded-reaper plot than the “high school angel” description we’d been given earlier.

By and large, what gets me most about this show is the feel of it. Yes, the story has my interest, and ultimately without a good story a drama will sink regardless of atmosphere, so I’d never disregard that entirely. But the direction is so crisp and eye-catching and interesting that what we get is a very visually striking end product. It’s difficult to capture inchoate concepts like marvel, but the direction manages to do that, as with Seul-bi’s wonder at the rain. We’re able to see things from her point of view as the foreign non-human soul among us, seeing the world with her slightly off-kilter perspective. I love the deadpan comedic beats as she wonders completely straight-faced about very ordinary human things and Woo-hyun is left wondering if she’s serious or brain-damaged.

This kind of drama wouldn’t work without the right kind of lead, and Kim Sae-ron is just charming here. She certainly looks very young (she’s only 14), but the supernatural bent has a way of making that work with the character—for all we know, she’s been a reaper-guide for centuries. Her childlike appearance (and childlike wonder) can be at odds with that, and in fact I do hope the drama plays it up more, making her more of an anachronous old soul.

Woo-hyun and Sung-yeol are still in the development process, but I feel optimistic about their characters and performances. When you cast two idols from the same group in one drama to play rivals, you certainly run the risk of turning people off with the assumption that this is a vanity project of some sort. So it’s a relief that for now, I’m seeing these boys as the characters without bumping on that “Oh he acts like an idol acts” hang-up. Woo-hyun is definitely set up to be the more likable one, but I hope that Sung-yeol is developed well and steps it up as an interesting counterbalance. ‘Cause frankly I’ve had enough of the straight-up arrogant jerk types; I want more depth.

One particular highlight for me is in the drama’s opening sequence that’s set two years into the future—it’s a short snippet, but it hints at so much, and manages to wring a lot of poignancy out of a situation that isn’t even fully set up in the drama yet. That is to say, we see that Woo-hyun and Seul-bi have separated for some reason, and that he’s intent on finding her, and that something happened between now and then to (1) make them fall in love, and (2) interfere with that love. It’s succinct and powerful all the same, because we get the conflict in a nutshell and now can observe the 2014 proceedings with that extra layer of pathos. Quite a nice touch.

I’m sad that KBS scheduled this drama the way it did, because I find myself both wanting more than one episode a week and wary of following a show for twenty weeks. It’s one thing when you get your drama in a concentrated dose of crack, but when you draw it out for so many months like that, you run the risk of killing your own momentum. It’s why I can’t commit to recapping the show, but hopefully it’ll pick up a following and earn some love.

July 14, 2014 at 8:49 PM

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I just saw this show too and I love it! I hope this show gets more love too. I didn't know anything about it when I first started watching so it wasn't until after i finished the episode that I found out that the male actors were idols. That helped me enjoy it more. I always get so hyped up when a drama begins but ultimately (or like ~95% of the time) that excitement dies. Hopefully that won't be the case with this one. I have to admit the one-episode-a-week thing is probably not going to help but I'm definitely gonna stick it out to watch it 'til the end.
Also, Kim Sae Ron is so adorable and super perfect for the role.

July 16, 2014 at 8:11 PM

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The acting is overall mediocre, but because all of the acting is mediocre, nothing stands out as cringe-worthy. If you had 1 actor that was stellar like kim soo hyun, then the show would probably be difficult to watch.

That being said, the script for episode 1 is well written and the story interesting enough to watch.

July 14, 2014 at 8:51 PM

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I was so disappointed to learn that this drama is only airing once a week. With kdramas I've grown so used to the two episodes a week, it'll a bit annoying going back to single weekly episode..oh well. I'll stick around as long as it keeps it's charm.

July 14, 2014 at 8:54 PM

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I wondered if you guys would do this one. I literally just heard about it on the front page of Dramafever, but haven't had a chance to watch yet. I was just surprised I hadn't heard anything about it because Kim Sae-ron is generally always awesome.

July 14, 2014 at 8:55 PM

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This was actually really cute. I was a little wary of this drama after seeing how young the female lead was, but she's doing a great job! I really likes this episode, and I think I may even start actually watching this show now :)
Thanks for the recap!

July 14, 2014 at 10:15 PM

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I've been thinking about watching it since they've got Kim Sae Ron as the leading girl but I'm afraid I'm not going to like the two idols.. To add that their fellow member in Infinite, L, was just really bad. :-/ But how about them though? Are they good, or just okay?

July 15, 2014 at 7:05 AM

Woohyun definitely has it easier, since playing the cool guy is his 'day job'... but who was that cool in high school? Anyone? His character at times has swagger way beyond his years and it takes me out of the scene a bit.

He's cute as a button in his scenes with his grandmother, though, and exudes this excellent youthful earnestness. I'm digging it and can see why he got the lead role opposite a death angel.

Sungyeol's strength is, well, pretty much being himself (he was training as an MC/actor before the idol/world tour things happened). When he's on variety shows, he shines. Goes nuts. Same thing. I love it.

In this episode, compared to his normally expressive personality, the character still didn't particularly catch my sympathy as a viewer until that adorable scene in the rain. There are some men who can pull off the 2D dickjerk and still be charismatic, but he isn't one of them (thank goodness- the dramasphere needs less of that type).

However! I do believe that he is a grumpy, solipsistic teenager, which was one of my major worries about watching a drama with these two paired with a 14 year old.

I think that, when Sungyeol's character gets fleshed out with vulnerability, he'll be able to bring something very compelling to the table.

Considering the mom backstory, he'll have more than enough angsting and fighting to do.

July 14, 2014 at 8:56 PM

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The story seems quite nice, I feel like the reaper aspect gives me a bit of a 49 days feel. That's mostly because I hope that cute reaper sunbae strays from the cold, no nonsense guy and becomes more witty/sarcastic.

I hope he stays that long though.....

The idols seem okay too. The age gap between Sae ron and them basically means no huge romance, but I'm fine with that so long as the supernatural parts are used well throughout the drama without sacrificing plot.

September 17, 2014 at 4:10 PM

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Ah it's good to know that I'm not the only person who enjoys the reaper sunbae character! I've been trying to find out who plays him, and seem to find it no where! If you or anyone happens to know his name please reply ahhh!

July 14, 2014 at 8:58 PM

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Definitely was surprised at how much I wanted more of it by the end of the episode. I adore Seul-bi already and can't wait to see how her interactions with the other characters will develop. I agree with javabeans though, I wish it was at least at 2 episodes per week. One per week for 20 episodes! Oi, dunno if I can do it...

July 15, 2014 at 7:25 AM

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Agree! I started out thinking this is kind of weird and cheap-looking, why is someone like Kim Sae Ron doing this? And ended with thinking Seul-Bi was adorable, really wanting to see another episode right away, and quite pleased with the overall 'look' of the show - which is sort of dreamy, other than the cheesy special effects.

Someone mentioned Dead Like Me and YES, that's exactly the right thing - it does have that feel, adjusted for the younger age of the actors.

July 14, 2014 at 9:03 PM

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Thanks for the recap JB! I was debating if I should watch this drama because watching this for 20 weeks would be killer. You have convinced to at least give it a chance. I am sad though that you won't be recapping the whole drama.

July 14, 2014 at 9:05 PM

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I was hesitating because I'm one of the few who doesn't like Kim Sae-ron for totally shallow reasons (yeah, yeah she's just a kid and I'm a bully. whatever) But she looks good here and the story sounds interesting so I might check out the first episode.

July 15, 2014 at 9:21 AM

Interesting that you mention Monstar. I like this one precisely because, as a high school drama, this one is so what Monstar (or many of its predecessor high school dramas) was not.

This one seems really about kids being ordinary kids (despite super natural elements) and also about kids growing up organically.

In the others, kids' background gets taken out of whack (for sympathy or antipathy and usually for makjang effects), they are given the weirdest personality and pursuits (like fan girls or lovesick idiots or man-eating psychos, with boys as spineless marionettes or dumb jocks or fist-first idiots), and they are put in the least realistic school (where teachers also join in the makjang story), all for the flimsiest excuse of capturing clicks.

This drama is also comparable to Master's Sun in a way. Here, it passes the test. What a difference it makes to not have a candy girl and to not have Gong Hyo Jin as its leading woman.

July 20, 2014 at 5:30 PM

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I can stand and patiently waiting for monstar and lets eat since im not a patient type. Ah,,i remember how i loveee these show. But, i dunno, i guess its because monstar had a long running time, and lets eat had me busy looking for similar food. Moreover, it only had 12 and 16 eps. But this 20eps show per week, i dont know if i can stick to it. We deserve something diffrent and promising to keep up

July 14, 2014 at 10:13 PM

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I have mixed feelings about this for a couple of reasons. I think our Angel is totally adorable, but she is pretty much carrying the show, and not sure how far that will take it. A lot of the rest of the show though was very much cliché filled, especially the whole arrogant mother thing.

Second is her age - being only 13 (Western), I really hope they don't take this into some kind of romance territory. For one I think that would spoil the whole "innocent yet 1,000 year old" Angel thing. It's a fun watch though, so will be keeping up with it.

And suspect that the main reason it is 1 episode per week is because of her age, so they don't violate too many child labor laws.

July 14, 2014 at 10:27 PM

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Thanks for the recap JB! Please continue to recap this drama (since it's only once a week).
Even though they have plot snippets from different dramas but I still feel that this drama is somewhat original in its own way. I love the feel of it and the cinematography is so stunning!
LOL guess I have come to love Sae-ron through this drama since I was kind of hesitant to watch it with her casting but all's good :D

July 14, 2014 at 10:31 PM

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I was wondering if someone would recap this! I was kinda nervous about watching this-- I like Woohyun and Sungyeol in Infinite but wasn't sure if they would be good. The drama's interesting though. I thought it had a manga-ish feel to it-- Reaper Seul-bi is even wearing a goth-loli outfit, lol. And at first she looks tired and worn-out even with the girlish looks-- must be the eyebags. xD When she turns human though she looks younger and fresher. I hope someone continues recapping this. :D

July 14, 2014 at 10:39 PM

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I loved the first episode. I have to admit though that I hope the "love" between our angel and Woo-hyun stays at a brother sister level because I don't know if I'll keep watching if it turns to romantic love.

I was so disappointed when grandma didn't kill bitchy mom, please tell me someone kills her between now the end.

I think they should rename the show from High School: Love On to Kim Sae-ron teaches everyone else in the cast how to act.

July 14, 2014 at 10:43 PM

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I have to say once again that she reminds me a lot of kim so yeon that is chu ga eul of BOF.Even the acting feels similar. She had a web drama called Secret angel which had her playing this nearly similar role. She's a angel/reaper who falls into the human world, latches on to the hero and falls in love with him :-) Sounds similar right?
Has anyone else seen it?

July 14, 2014 at 10:52 PM

August 21, 2014 at 4:38 AM

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haha...i thought i'm the only one that think kim sae ron resemble yoona... but according to her young age, i think kim sae ron may be prettier than yoona because i think yoona is not that too pretty before her debut as snsd. And here, kim sae ron somewhat look pretty and its hard for me to believe that she is the same child that acted with Won Bin!

July 14, 2014 at 11:18 PM

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dang! I could have watched it last night and join the discussion. I traded Wonderful Season for this. I honestly will see it just to support those Infinite members( just doing my duty as a fan). But I am glad that its looking good.

July 14, 2014 at 11:26 PM

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I must be the only one disappointed with this drama.
To me, it is:
"cringily" childish (everything the angel does and specially the mother in the school, who nobody would truly suffer nor give a damn for)
and cliche (all the sweet moments are a "deja vu" of previous dramas).

July 14, 2014 at 11:45 PM

I am all in for Kim Sae Ron whom I adore and she delivers already! She's a fantastic actress for her age and she ahs a very bright future ahead!

It's too early to say much about Woo Hyun and Sung Yeol but I am carefully optimistic ;)

I just really hope they don't go full love line with Seul Bi and the boys bc... Kim Sae Ron is just sooo young! No thank you! Just keep it at a brotherly - sisterly relationship and I'm a happy camper :)

I am a bit torn about the format. I want more than just one episode but then again one ep per week is easy to catch up if there's not enough time one week. 20 episodes is much but I managed that kind of schedule (only with 16 eps) with Let's eat and tbh I'd rather commit to a drama with 20 eps/1 ep per week than a 50 ep weekend drama :P

July 15, 2014 at 12:05 AM

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I saw the trailers on dramabeans and found/watched the first episode last night. I noted it wasn't on the list of drama episodes for the week on the dramabeans homepage. But was pleasantly surprised when I watched it online.

The cast is young and fresh and it was something different to watch. It seemed to be running at a slow pace and with only one episode a week I hope it can keep my attention.

I saw Kim Sae-ron in The Man from Nowhere/Ajjushi, and it would be good to see how she develops as an actress.

July 15, 2014 at 12:45 AM

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I'm glad to see Javabeans recapping even just the first episode. I actually thought that this drama would just be a plain one. I was surprised that it was not too boring to watch given that the leads are both idols.

Forgive me Woohyun, but Sungyeol and Seulbi had the spark for this episode. I think I'll be shipping them from now on.

Kim Sae Ron is soooo cute and squishy! It's a good thing they chose her for the role, she's really great!

July 15, 2014 at 1:31 AM

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i think kbs choice to run 1 episode/week can be because there is a new rule for child actor about their hour of job,maybe 40h/week so it will be difficult to make more than 1 episode.moreover Infinite announced their comeback..

July 15, 2014 at 3:38 AM

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I watched this show and totally loved it so much I watched the first episode 3 more times! I too wish is was on more than once a week! At the end of ep 1 I was dying to see episode 2! I love the young girl actor..she is so perfect for the part she plays!
I love your recaps and come here often just to clarify many of the dramas I've been watching because I miss understanding what it going on at times.
Thank you so much for you hard work! Your site Rocks!
Fighting!

July 15, 2014 at 4:28 AM

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OMG I didn't know ChoA acted in this drama! *FLAIL ARMS* YAAASS, get it sister! I've heard of her making an acting debut but I was a little surprised to see her face in one of the screencaps here. Thanks for the recap; I need a good drama to sink into after Joseon Gunman every Wed and Thurs.

July 15, 2014 at 5:25 AM

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I was waiting on someone to notice this. I think I first saw it mentioned on Allkpop.com a few days ago. She isn't credited, but I hope she gets more scenes. However, this is probably just a cameo The show sort of snuck her in unannounced.

July 15, 2014 at 4:34 AM

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Watched it yesterday on Dramafire and totally love it. KSR is so adorable and perfect for her character. Just found out the age difference of the male actors n her and I was surprised. Cos the two boys looks like they r teens. May b becos they r idols, their actings are not on par with Sae Ron but still good. Plus Woo hyun and sel-bi together is so cute.
JB, I know it's a big a request but can someone from dramabeans continue recapping this? *Puppy Eyes* I really love it and it's always a great feeling to read the recaps of ur fav drama. Pretty please? *blow kiss* >.<

July 16, 2014 at 12:03 AM

July 15, 2014 at 5:25 AM

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I like the 1st episode and yes I feel bad that I will watch this once every week. But knowing that Kim Sae-ron is only 14 and she's affected of the "New 35-Hour Work Week Law for Child Entertainers" so probably that's the reason why it's 1 week show only.

July 15, 2014 at 6:01 AM

July 15, 2014 at 5:59 AM

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Gorgeous Reaper Sunbae is played by Mr.Mr's Changjae, and my guess is that, like with that reaper and the fairy in Arang, these two were brother and sister in a previous life. And he has some sense of it, which is why he stays close by.

I like this show a lot. I've lost interest in most of the other dramas going on, so for now, this is what I'm looking forward to for the weekends, along with GFIT. :-)

Wish there was one more episode! Perhaps with so many kpop actors, they can't accommodate heavy filming schedules.

July 15, 2014 at 6:03 AM

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Awww, this sounds adorable! Thanks for the "sneak preview" - I was wondering whether to watch it or not.

Actually, the 1 ep-per-week works for me (no problems with it in Let's Eat) - I was wondering how I could possibly fit in another drama with all the others - like High School King of Savvy, Trot Lovers, Roommate, Joseon Gunman, FtLY - so much to watch, and so little tiiiime!!

I like the plot - sounds just fresh enough to pique my interest. Will definitely put on my list - a drama addict watching a drama about another drama addict - sounds good to me!

July 15, 2014 at 10:47 AM

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Anyone knows the name of the songs in the begining and end of the chapter? I can't find them anywhere. And I really like the way those songs complement those scenes, especially the last one on which she dance in the rain.

July 15, 2014 at 10:50 AM

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I'm so glad you decided to recap this drama, even if only for a single episode! I watched it on a whim the other day and was completely entranced. The story is adorable, the cinematography beautiful. I hope more people give this little drama a chance!